What is it?

[nate_m]

I cut down a dead-standing white oak the other day and on the way down it grazed another tree. That tree then dropped a handful of the fruit you see in the picture. I've never seen one of these before and couldn't identify it using my Audubon Guide To Trees.
Some additional info:

• Location: southwestern Ohio in a heavily wooded creek
• Fruit?? is 3.5 ~ 4 inches in diameter
• Fruit has milky stuff oozing out when punctured
• Smaller branches have thorns (found out the hard way when I grabbed the branch to take the picture - ouch!)
• Exposed roots of the tree have orange colored papery appearance
• No distinguishable smell
• Growing among walnut, maple and locust

Anybody have any insight as to what kind of tree this is?

 

[smitty9266]

Osage or common name "Osage orange" or "Hedge Apple" used by farmers when planted in a row as a fence substitute. Cows and horses cannot go thru them because of the tough branches and thorns. Use caution when using as firewood burns extremely hot.

Jeff

 

[sellercreek]

Osage Orange makes excellent fence posts. Won't ever rot.

 

[nate_m]

Thanks, Jeff! You nailed it. That's it for sure.

I alway thought that Osage Orange only grew in Texas, though. Learn something new everyday.

I have seen Osage Orange lumber for sale in my woodworking catalogs before but have never tried it. Maybe I'll cut one down and chuck a piece up in the ol' lathe.

 

[MossRoad]

Native Americans used the wood to make bows for their bows and arrows.

If you get the trees young, you can pleach the branches together to make a hedge that will hold in just about any animal.

Old wives tales say you can put those hedge apples along the inside of your basement foundation along the sill plate and it will keep bugs out. People around here swear by it, however, I think anyone that goes to that extreme probably dusts their sill plates regularly so they see few spider webs.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

Thanks, Jeff! You nailed it. That's it for sure.

I alway thought that Osage Orange only grew in Texas, though. Learn something new everyday.

I have seen Osage Orange lumber for sale in my woodworking catalogs before but have never tried it. Maybe I'll cut one down and chuck a piece up in the ol' lathe.

do all your work while it's green.
once it cures, you'll need carbide tools to work it, otherwise you'll spend more time sharpening the chisels that you do making shavings.
OTOH, it's pretty wood when you do get it worked and a nice finish on it.
It also burns real nice if you've got a wood stove or like to cook with wood. just make sure you don't build big fires with it or you can wreck a wood stove pretty quick. (mulberry and locust are the same way, just not as much so) I remember impressing a group of friends once by using a hedge fed bonfire to heat up a scrap of steel enough to hammer out a throwing knife for a friend.

 

[wushaw]

I have several osage orange/bodark trees on my property.
That tree with the apples is a female, there could possibly be another close by with no apples that is taller that will be male.
If you see one of these apples split open like someone has taken a knife to it many times that is a squirrel eating the seeds.

And in my avitar picture the shade that you see is from a female bodark.

 

[texbaylea]

Thanks, Jeff! You nailed it. That's it for sure.

I alway thought that Osage Orange only grew in Texas, though. Learn something new everyday.

I have seen Osage Orange lumber for sale in my woodworking catalogs before but have never tried it. Maybe I'll cut one down and chuck a piece up in the ol' lathe.

Turning cured bois d'arc (bodark) is best done on a metal lathe with carbide bits. Also keep the sawdust cleaned up. Best to use a vacuum pickup close the the cutting tool. Clean the lathe well afterward.

Vernon

 

[Bird]

Yep, Osage Orange is one name for them, but I grew up in Southern Oklahoma and North Central Texas and never heard of an Osage Orange tree until I saw the name on the Internet the last few years. However, everyone knew what a Bois D'arc tree was, and it was definitely the preferred tree for corner fence posts because it wouldn't rot. And as mentioned before, you can cut that fruit in half and put the pieces behind the sofa and other places out of the way in the house to keep the bugs out. I've done that and had no problem with bugs, but don't know whether that was the reason or not.

And when I was a kid, a lot of people called the fruit "horse apples". Well, my first horse was a retired rodeo bucker; old tall sorrel gelding that wouldn't buck unless you put a flank girth on him. We didn't have any Bois D'arc trees in our pasture, but the neighbor across the fence did, and I'd go get those "apples" and that old horse ate'em like they were candy. But I later had two other horses and I never saw another horse, or any other animal, that would eat those things.

 

[chh]

I like Bird have always heard them called horse apples and I have never seen anything eat them. They make the best fence posts you can get. There are a couple hear on the ranch that have been in the ground since in the 1940's.

 

[Ridgewalker]

They are common in Missouri as well. We had a huge one in my back yard when I was a kid. I always wanted to climb it, tried a few times, but the thorns were too much. It died a few years ago and my mom had the root wad dug out. It was HUGE!!!

 

[TomSr]

Osage Orange was used by the Osage Indians to make some of the most sought after bows in existance in the early days of this country. If you cut a tree down dont come back several days later with your chain saw to cut it up. you will have to buy a new chain. It is one tough wood once it is cut and hardens a bit. I have tons of it on my place. My sons make walking sticks out of it.

 

[HappyCPE]

My understanding is that these trees were planted heavily during the Depression (sometimes in make-work WPA projects) in many areas of the country. So, they are native to TX and OK but there are a lot here in NJ.

This summer the county road department went thru some areas and "cleaned up" the foliage along the side of the roads. A lot of Osage Orange trees that were planted years ago were cut down, ostensibly because the fruits were a hazard to pedestrians and bicycles. Interestingly, there wasn't much of that wood left lying around for folks to pick up and burn...

There is a nice stand of them on an abandoned part of Route 12 here. I wonder how long they'll last before someone gets chilly this winter.

 

[wushaw]

My understanding is that these trees were planted heavily during the Depression (sometimes in make-work WPA projects) in many areas of the country. So, they are native to TX and OK but there are a lot here in NJ.

This summer the county road department went thru some areas and "cleaned up" the foliage along the side of the roads. A lot of Osage Orange trees that were planted years ago were cut down, ostensibly because the fruits were a hazard to pedestrians and bicycles. Interestingly, there wasn't much of that wood left lying around for folks to pick up and burn...

There is a nice stand of them on an abandoned part of Route 12 here. I wonder how long they'll last before someone gets chilly this winter.

Well they may not like it very well once it goes to popping embers like crazy. Bodark has a milky sap that takes a very long time to dry up. I had a few removed trees that sat in a pile for three years before I burned that pile and they poped and crackled for a good while.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

Put a few of the hedge apples in your basement, spiders hate them. They are all over western Iowa. They sell the hedge apples in stores for spider replellent.

 

[RollTideRam]

There are a few of these trees on my brothers land next to me. A big one split and fell a few years ago. We cut it up and burned it last year. I remember thinking this was the hottest fire I have ever been close to. I later read that this wood puts out btu's close to coal. It also is like watching a fire work show watching it burn. JC

 

[Bird]

Put a few of the hedge apples in your basement, spiders hate them. They are all over western Iowa. They sell the hedge apples in stores for spider replellent.

You might find this story and especially this one interesting.

 

[nate_m]

This is all very interesting.
It's kind of like finding out that old lamp in the attic is worth a fortune.

As far as getting them to reproduce, any suggestions?

Can I just drop a monkey-brain in a hole in the dirt? Or do the seeds need to go through eat, poop and frost cycle like an apple? I'm guessing that because they are native to Texas and OK, they don't need the frost part. But the eat and poop part is critical to the propagation of many types of fruit seeds.
If that's the case, maybe I'll see if my neighbors horses will eat one then follow him around for a day or two. (The horse not the neighbor!)

 

[MossRoad]

In my youth we used to go out into the country to a spot along the road that had thousands of those trees.. We'd fill up a Volkswagon van with hedge apples, drive to a "friend's" house and dump them all over the lawn at night. We thought it was real funny. Especially in sub divisions full of folks that had never seen them before.

Of course, now that I am an adult and have a home, I see things a little differently.

 

[FrogLick]

This is all very interesting.
It's kind of like finding out that old lamp in the attic is worth a fortune.

As far as getting them to reproduce, any suggestions?

Can I just drop a monkey-brain in a hole in the dirt? Or do the seeds need to go through eat, poop and frost cycle like an apple? I'm guessing that because they are native to Texas and OK, they don't need the frost part. But the eat and poop part is critical to the propagation of many types of fruit seeds.
If that's the case, maybe I'll see if my neighbors horses will eat one then follow him around for a day or two. (The horse not the neighbor!)

The lovely Mrs. really likes a basket full of these things for decorating. I myself hate the almost impossible to remove sticky sap, thorns, etc. - just a PIA. In any case, after the decorating season last fall the lovely Mrs. planted some in holes she had me dig in an out of the way place. We'll see if they come up without any "pretreatment". Of course they could get accidently mowed if they do.